Samurai Boomer: Peace of Night

Episode 4

Secret7

"What?"

Brad closed his eyes. "I said: 'I'm thirsty'! So get me some fruit punch or something! Please!"

"Er...OK, bro! I'll be back in a second! I guess..." The last phrase he muttered under his breath. He had noticed that Brad had been staring at his neck. Also, he had had the blood drained out of him. Maybe Brad was delirious and trying to give him a hickey. Boomer thought to himself.

Nope, that was just disgusting. His brother always was a ladies' man too.

Brad shouted, freaking out Boomer.

"JUST GET ME SOME PINK LEMONADE OR SOMETHING!" Brad yelled at the top of his lungs.

"...Sorry..." Boomer said quietly. There was something wrong with his brother, and, once he got the pink lemonade, he was going to find out!

He hovered out of the room and came to a Pipsy Cola machine. He suddenly heard a loud crashing noise coming from his brother's room. He immediately burst into the room to see what was wrong.

Brad was shaking violently and looked like he was in terrible pain.

"What's wrong?!?" Boomer yelled frantically.

"drink...need...someone...drink...help..." Brad murmured, sounding desperate.

Boomer looked closely at Brad and saw that he was merely having some kind of nightmare. It was the afternoon, but his sleeping schedule was probably off.

Then, the thought entered his head:

Vampire?

He immediately closed that thought out. How could his brother be a vampire? Maybe...maybe he had to conduct some tests...

That was it! Tests! With all the information he'd gathered from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", he could discover for sure if his brother was human or not!

He went home, knowing his brother would come home, vampire or not, at about sunset, 6:00 sharp. Of course it was his new sleeping schedule. Right...?

Boomer snuck down the stairs toward the kitchen. Jack preferred to cook himself, in a belief that forcing others to cook for him and Boomer was conceited. Tonight they were inducting Brad into the royal family for protection, and Jack was preparing an elegant meal consisting of sushi, fried rice, chili (on Boomer's insistence) and other delicacies.

Boomer's idea was indeed confirmed: Jack was currently not in the kitchen, probably in the John. He hovered quietly to the mixture of rice on the stove. Boomer pulled out some garlic he had bought at the market earlier and immediately sliced it to miniscule bits with super speed. The garlic spread over the food, and Boomer couldn't help but smile: He had gotten away with it.

Dinner was polite that night, like always. They ate quietly in the elegant yet roomy kitchen that had been built when Jack became the new emperor.

Speaking of which, Jack spoke up.

"Boomer, I want to concede from being an emperor," he said quietly. Jack hadn't tasted the food yet, it was just pre-dinner talk before, this time on Brad's insistence, they said grace.

"What? Concede? How could you?!?" Boomer asked in horror. "What does 'concede' mean?"

"It means I'm stopping. I cannot allow myself to become a cruel ruler."

Brad spoke up, though he was fairly quiet. "Jack, you're a fine ruler. You've never done anything to abuse your power whatsoever..."

"Yes, but why take that chance? A republic would be better for everyone, because people could voice their own opinions. I can listen, but only to a select number of people. With a republic, the people of earth will decide how to govern," he finished. Getting off the subject, he began grace.

"Lord, thank you for this meal,

"And for two kind young children,

"And..."

Boomer noticed that Brad wasn't joining in grace. It was odd, because he was the most religious of the three anyway. Maybe he just doesn't...feel like it right now. But the strange thing was, Brad never didn't feel like praying. It was so strange...

"And last, for freeing the country from the grasp of Aku," Jack continued.

"Thank you Lord,

"Amen"

"Now let's dig in!" Boomer shouted, and began to shove spoonful after spoonful of rice into his mouth. Jack pulled up his spoon, scooped some rice up, and—

"Paftttttt!" Jack spat out the food. "There must be something wrong with this food...It tastes like...far too strong garlic!"

Before Brad was warned, however, he took a bite. His eyes widened.

"I think I'm gonna puke..." he said, looking genuinely pale. He soared out of the room, looking for a restroom.

Well, Boomer thought to himself proudly. I guess he's just sick. I mean, come on! He's going to the bathroom, that's all! Wait a sec...that's not where the bathroom is!

"Er...May I please be excused?" Boomer asked Jack. Jack nodded.

"Yes, of course. However, I'm ashamed."

"What?"

"This is an obvious prank, and a cruel one at that. You have ruined our dinner and dishonored yourself. I have no choice but to ground you."

"Say wha?"

"I have no choice. Go to your room immediately."

Boomer grumbled, and started to float up to his room. As suspicious as he was, he would never disobey Jack and leave his room. Well, OK, maybe he would, for the sake of investigation, but not after Jack being so angry at him. He sighed and bowed his head, admitting it to himself. Admitting that ever since he had come to this world, this world that had been plagued by Aku, life had sucked. He walked over to his bed, thinking to himself, and lay down. He fell asleep, and dreamed of a world without the followers of Aku, and suspicions of vampires, and dreamed. Dreamed most of all about seeing his brothers again. His real, biological brothers again. But he didn't know that someone was watching. Watching him, watching his very dreams. That this someone had been watching him ever since he had arrived in this new world. And that the watcher smiled. He had found the weakness...